Bloom Your Mind

Marie McDonald
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We all think and talk about what we’ll do someday, but what if that someday could start right now? If there’s a change you want to make in yourself, in your life, or an idea that you have that you want to make real … this podcast is for you. After 20 years leading and coaching innovators, Certified Coach Marie McDonald is breaking down how great change-makers think so you can do what they do and take your ideas out of your head and into the world where they belong. We’ll teach you how to stop trying to get other people to like you and your ideas, and how to be your own biggest fan instead. You’ll learn how to ditch the drama and have fun with failure, to stop taking things personally, and to get out of anxiety and into decisive action when you don’t even know how or what you’re doing yet. Marie has used this work to go from bar tender to Vice President, to create the family of her dreams, and to start a multiple six-figure business from scratch within eight months. Whether you want to change a relationship, a habit, write a book or start a movement, it starts here on The Bloom Your Mind Podcast. Find me on Instagram @the.bloom.coach to get a daily mind-bloom, and join my weekly list. See you inside!

  1. Ep 163: Dream Work Partnerships

    2 DAYS AGO

    Ep 163: Dream Work Partnerships

    In this episode, I interview Maggie Roach Black in a live conversation about the partnership Maggie and I have built over 18 years of working together. We talk about what makes a work partnership not just functional — but dream-level aligned. The kind of partnership that makes better work, deeper impact, and a lot more joy possible. This is an inside look at how we think, how we collaborate, how we navigate challenges, and how we’ve stayed each other’s primary thought partner and creative partner for almost two decades. What You’ll Learn in This Episode The traits and values we find make deeply compatible work partnersHow we manage our minds to get the best out of ourselves and each otherHow we navigate challenges without damaging trust or momentumWhy we’ve been able to sustain a primary work partnership with each other for nearly 20 yearsHow meetings on the beach, working dinners and laughing about EVERYTHING keeps us strongerWhy joy, partnership, and collaboration directly translate into stronger outcomes and better workHow we create deep organizational impact by helping leaders and teams access their bestest bestHow we help mission-driven organizations build cultures where humans actually thriveThe next big idea we’re building together — including retreats in ParisThis conversation is really about what becomes possible when you build work relationships rooted in trust, growth, shared values, and hilariousness.  When partnership is aligned, work gets better.  Impact gets bigger.  And the experience of building something meaningful becomes a whole lot more fun. Maggie Roach Black Maggie is an executive coach, mom of three wild daughters, holder of multiple degrees from Stanford University, and co-founder of Bloom Leadership. She loves spending her days coaching individuals, training managers and leaders, and helping all kinds of people get unstuck (along with volunteering at her kids’ schools and Girl Scout troops). Her career experience includes leading a scaling business, building processes for staffing and decentralized culture at scale, strategic planning, managing functional teams of managers for people at all levels, and working directly with teachers and kids. She thrives on helping individuals and teams to set the right goals, and believes every work experience can be fun. How to connect with Marie: On the Web | The Local Bloom Instagram: @the.bloom.coach All Things Marie on LinkTree JOIN THE BLOOM ROOM! We'll take all these ideas and apply them to our lives. Follow me on Instagram at @the.bloom.coach to learn more and snag a spot in my group coaching program!

    35 min
  2. Ep 162: Stay in Your Model

    13 FEB

    Ep 162: Stay in Your Model

    Today we’re revisiting one of the most powerful frameworks I teach: the Regenerative Thought Model — and then taking it one step further into real-life application inside relationships, leadership, and everyday human interactions. At its core, the model is simple: There are factual circumstances in the world.  We observe them (ideally from a compassionate, grounded space).  Our thoughts about those circumstances create our feelings.  Our feelings drive our behavior.  Our behavior creates our results. And then the sneaky part:  Our results almost always appear to prove our original thought true.  Our brain says, “See? I knew it.”  And confirmation bias strengthens that thought, those neural pathways, and that belief system over time — keeping us locked in familiar patterns. Here’s the next layer most people don’t realize: You are always inside a thought model.  All day long.  And so is everyone else. The problems start when we accidentally jump into someone else’s model without realizing it. This happens when someone says something, does something, or gives off body language or energy — and suddenly we stop relating to our own thoughts and feelings and start trying to interpret, validate, or live inside their perspective instead. Then we start asking:  “Is their perspective right?”  “Is my perspective wrong?”  “Should I feel differently?” But thoughts are not objectively true or false.  They are subjective interpretations. When we forget that, we create confusion, emotional whiplash, and disconnection from ourselves. What You’ll Learn in This Episode: A clear refresher on the Regenerative Thought Model and how it shapes every result in your lifeWhy you are always inside a thought model — and how other people are tooHow and why we accidentally jump into someone else’s modelThe four main reasons this happens:Momentarily forgetting that thoughts are subjectiveOur deep wiring for belonging and not wanting to be excludedOur brain’s threat detection system over-focusing on potential negativesMirror neurons making emotional states contagiousHow to recognize when you’ve stepped out of your model (sudden emotional shifts, confusion, disorientation, self-doubt)Why staying in your model doesn’t mean ignoring other people — it means staying grounded while gathering dataA simple 4-step process to:Notice when you may be in someone else’s modelSeparate their perspective from yours Reconnect with your own grounded thinking and emotional stateTake in useful information from their experience without abandoning yourselfWhen you learn to stay in your model, you stop getting emotionally knocked over by other people’s storms. You can be present, empathetic, and connected — while still staying anchored in yourself. If you want support practicing this in real time: Bloom Room — foundational thought and emotional skill building Moxie Mastermind — high-level application while building real-world ideas, leadership, and impact How to connect with Marie: On the Web | The Local Bloom Instagram: @the.bloom.coach All Things Marie on LinkTree JOIN THE BLOOM ROOM! We'll take all these ideas and apply them to our lives. Follow me on Instagram at @the.bloom.coach to learn more and snag a spot in my group coaching program!

    27 min
  3. Ep 161: Thinking Yourself Into Better Relationships

    30 JAN

    Ep 161: Thinking Yourself Into Better Relationships

    Relationships are not actually about other people. They are about the thoughts we think about other people. And that is incredible news. Because it means that even when another person doesn’t change, even when circumstances don’t shift, even when history is complicated… you still have agency. You can change the entire emotional climate of a relationship by changing the way you think, feel, and show up inside of it. In this episode, we explore why it only takes one person in a relationship shifting their inner world to transform the dynamic between two people. And we walk through exactly how that works at the level of thoughts, emotions, nervous system, behavior, and connection. You’ll learn why: Thoughts create our body language, tone, and the emotional safety or distance in our relationshipsHow all of that becomes contagious in relationshipWe break down how negative thought loops become self-fulfilling propheciesHow those thoughts quietly shape our body language and the other person’s subconscious response to usHow thoughts gather more evidence that looks like them. How people who believe they are liked tend to be more likableCouples who believe their relationship is special tend to create relationships that actually areTake responsibility for your side of the streetPractical tools for cleaning up our side of the street in relationships, so that we have have more love, connection and joyRelationships are everything, and you have far more power in them than you were ever taught. How to connect with Marie: On the Web | The Local Bloom Instagram: @the.bloom.coach All Things Marie on LinkTree JOIN THE BLOOM ROOM! We'll take all these ideas and apply them to our lives. Follow me on Instagram at @the.bloom.coach to learn more and snag a spot in my group coaching program!

    27 min
  4. Ep 160: Out of Negativity

    23 JAN

    Ep 160: Out of Negativity

    We love the romantic idea of inspiration striking. The muse arrives. The energy shifts. We suddenly feel like creating, reaching out, working out, having the hard conversation, writing the email, going on the date, taking the leap. But real artists, real writers, real leaders, real change-makers, and the people who actually achieve the big dreams they’re cooking up know the truth:  You don’t wait to feel like doing the thing.  You get yourself to the place where you can do the thing by shifting your emotional state. Painters go to the studio even after brutal critiques.  Writers sit down and write even when the page feels dead.  We don’t wait to “feel like” exercising, sending the email, or putting ourselves out there. We move first, and the feeling follows. In this episode, we apply that same principle to something even more powerful: your emotional state. So many of us unconsciously believe we’re supposed to feel good naturally—and that something has gone wrong if we don’t. But the human experience is 50/50. Half joy, half struggle. Add in our brain’s negativity bias and environmental stressors, and it makes perfect sense that we don’t wake up in a great emotional place every day. The problem isn’t feeling negative. The problem is waiting for it to change on its own. What You’ll Learn in This Episode Why waiting to feel motivated, confident, connected, or calm keeps us stuckHow emotions become habitual neural patterns that replay automaticallyWhy unshifted emotions run our behavior and leak into our relationshipsHow negativity becomes contagious through tone, body language, and energyHow small emotional states snowball into full-blown emotional climates (the “rings of a tree” effect)Real examples from coaching: body image, relationships, anxiety, self-doubt, and morning emotional statesThe Core Skill: Emotional Shifting Instead of letting your emotional state dictate your actions, you learn to: Notice and accept what you’re feelingObserve the thoughts creating the feelingLet the emotion move through your body without judging itIntentionally shift into a state that better supports how you want to live and leadWe explore tools like: Thought tradingEnvironmental shiftsMovement and nervous system resetsIn-the-moment “thought prophecies”Looking for what you like instead of what you fearAsking, “How could the opposite be true?” (Byron Katie style)Building a daily “emotional warm-up” practice that trains your brain like a muscleBecause when you learn to shift your emotional state, three powerful things happen:  You stop repeating old patterns.  You stop acting from emotions you didn’t choose.  You stop unconsciously spreading the very energy you don’t want to live in. You don’t wait for the clouds to part.  You learn how to move the weather. How to connect with Marie: On the Web | The Local Bloom Instagram: @the.bloom.coach All Things Marie on LinkTree JOIN THE BLOOM ROOM! We'll take all these ideas and apply them to our lives. Follow me on Instagram at @the.bloom.coach to learn more and snag a spot in my group coaching program!

    22 min
  5. Ep 159: How I Built a Million Dollar Business

    19 JAN

    Ep 159: How I Built a Million Dollar Business

    Lately, I’ve been getting the same question over and over: How did you become so successful, so fast? And when people ask that, they usually mean the numbers. Yes, I left a career in the innovation field, started my own coaching and leadership practice, and made $360K in my first year. Four years later, it’s a million-dollar business. But the real success wasn’t financial. The real success was this:  Creating a vision for a whole new version of my career and myself…  Diving in headfirst off a high dive…  Committing fully, going deep, moving fast, and never looking back. I had never owned a business before. I had always been a leader inside organizations. So from the outside, it looked like an anomaly. But from the inside, it was the result of very specific inner and outer work. In this episode, I walk you through exactly what made the difference. What You’ll Learn in This Episode Why belief is everything. Just like my son picking up a guitar and declaring, “I’m a guitarist,” the people who move quickly are the ones who allow themselves to be who they are becoming before they have proof. How to clean up the mind. Our thoughts create our emotions, our actions, our results—and then we collect evidence to prove whatever we already believe. To build a new future, we have to deliberately change the belief system, not just the behavior. Why your energy is your most precious resource. Your time, focus, and life force are not free. When you stop leaking energy in every direction and start investing it intentionally, everything accelerates. How to work with the subconscious. The brain filters out opportunities that don’t match what it believes is possible. Through visualization, emotional processing, and unconscious reprogramming, you train your nervous system to recognize the future you’re creating as “safe” and “real.” Why you must be willing to feel anything. Fear, doubt, cringe, imposter syndrome—none of these are problems when you know how to feel them without letting them stop you. How to use the same process innovators use. Vision. Iteration. Obstacle strategy. Milestones. Aligned daily action. A simple, regenerative system that turns ideas into reality. Why community changes everything. Being in rooms with high-level, high-vibration women leaders raises your nervous system, your standards, your belief in what’s possible. You rise to the level of the room. This is the exact recipe I’ve used to: Go from burned out and broke to building a million-dollar businessCreate time freedom and deep family connectionTransform my body, my relationships, and my leadershipLive a life that includes snowy mountain days with my kids and beach strategy sessions with women CEOsIt’s also the exact work I teach inside the Moxie Mastermind. Because the world needs women leaders right now. There is no more waiting. And I am all-in on helping women rise. So I’ve made my journey from burned out to blissed out, the thing I’m doing to help other women, teaching the three steps I took to get here.  How to connect with Marie: On the Web | The Local Bloom Instagram: @the.bloom.coach All Things Marie on LinkTree JOIN THE BLOOM ROOM! We'll take all these ideas and apply them to our lives. Follow me on Instagram at @the.bloom.coach to learn more and snag a spot in my group coaching program!

    22 min
  6. Ep 158: Finding Your Mentors

    9 JAN

    Ep 158: Finding Your Mentors

    We start the year—or a new chapter of life or a new project—with a vision. We know what we want to create, who we want to become, and what we want to move toward next. And then…we stop there. In this episode, we talk about why having a vision isn’t enough—and the single factor that determines whether your idea actually becomes real: belief. Not surface-level optimism, but sustained belief that you can do this, even when doubt, old patterns, and blind spots show up. There is always a new way to think about how to do something. And often, we can’t see where we’re stuck in our own thinking—especially when we don’t yet have an example of the person we’re becoming. This is one of the biggest places I see people stall, particularly women leaders who are looking for models of strength rooted in feminine energy rather than burnout or hustle. In this episode, we explore how to move forward even when you can’t find “someone exactly like you” who has already done what you want to do. What You’ll Learn in This Episode Why belief—not vision—is the real differentiator between ideas that stay ideas and ideas that become realHow staying stuck often comes from unseen thought patterns, not lack of effort or talentWhy waiting for the perfect mentor can keep you frozenThree powerful ways to find mentorship when no single example existsThe Three Ways to Find Your Mentors Put yourself in rooms with women who bring out your best.  Surround yourself with people who keep your energy high, your vision alive, and your momentum moving forward.Build a mosaic of mentors.  Find multiple women who are doing different parts of what you want to do—leading, creating, parenting, speaking, building, living. Let their examples expand what feels possible.Be your own example.  The world doesn’t need a carbon copy of someone else. It needs you. The way you lead, create, love, and contribute is the mentorship someone else is looking for.You don’t have to wait for permission. You don’t have to wait for proof. You get to become the person you’ve been searching for. And if you want support doing that—working with your thought patterns, maintaining momentum, and taking aligned next actions—we’ve got you. Come join us in the Bloom Room or the Moxie Mastermind.  We gotchuuuuu. 💛 How to connect with Marie: On the Web | The Local Bloom Instagram: @the.bloom.coach All Things Marie on LinkTree JOIN THE BLOOM ROOM! We'll take all these ideas and apply them to our lives. Follow me on Instagram at @the.bloom.coach to learn more and snag a spot in my group coaching program!

    14 min
  7. Ep 157: Yearly Reflection — The Questions That Matter

    2 JAN

    Ep 157: Yearly Reflection — The Questions That Matter

    Every year, I used to get an email that stopped me in my tracks. It would land in my inbox, and I’d feel this immediate sense of clarity and groundedness. The email came from the CEO of the company I worked for at the time—a brilliant, mission-driven leader whose work focused on transforming education by building changemakers, not bubble-fillers. I respected him deeply, and when he shared best practices, I paid attention. That email contained five simple reflection questions to ask at the end of the year and the beginning of the next. I answered them every year. And when I eventually left that role, I kept the practice. Now, I record an episode like this every year to remind you to pause and reflect. And if you’re listening to this at any other time of year, here’s your permission slip: the year is a construct. Reflection works anytime. The more often you do it, the more powerful it becomes. Research consistently shows that intentional reflection increases learning, clarity, emotional regulation, and follow-through. When we pause to look back, we extract wisdom from experience instead of rushing past it—and that wisdom is one of the greatest accelerators for turning ideas into real things. Last year, I shared a set of reflection questions focused on what gave you positive and negative feelings and how you wanted to shift your priorities. This year, I went deeper with my students—and the results were profound. Reflection Questions for This Year What are you proudest of?When did you feel most alive?What did you learn?Where were you deeply true to yourself?Where—and how—did you abandon yourself?How do you want to prioritize differently moving forward?How do you want to grow? What do you most want to celebrate from 2025?I recommend saving your reflections each year. Over time, they become a powerful record of your evolution—what mattered, what shifted, and how you grew into yourself. I’ll end this episode with a final practice that is the MOST powerful I’ve found to launch you on the path you most want to walk for the year ahead.  If you want support bringing your ideas to life, join us in the Bloom Room or the Moxie Mastermind. 2026 is the year of your moxie. Let’s go. Mentioned in this episode: Glen Tripp — CEO, changemaker, and longtime advocate for reflective leadership practicesHow to connect with Marie: On the Web | The Local Bloom Instagram: @the.bloom.coach All Things Marie on LinkTree JOIN THE BLOOM ROOM! We'll take all these ideas and apply them to our lives. Follow me on Instagram at @the.bloom.coach to learn more and snag a spot in my group coaching program!

    15 min
  8. Ep 156: Giving Positive Feedback

    19/12/2025

    Ep 156: Giving Positive Feedback

    Most of us are much more practiced at pointing out what’s not working than naming what is. And even when we do give positive feedback, we often keep it vague: “You did great.” “That was awesome.” “Nice job.” In this episode, we explore why specific positive feedback is one of the most powerful tools we have—for leadership, parenting, relationships, teamwork, and personal growth—and why it’s so often underused. I break down how generic praise feels good in the moment but doesn’t actually help people grow, while specific feedback builds confidence, clarity, and trust. It teaches people what to keep doing, not just what to avoid. What You’ll Learn in This Episode Why the brain needs specificity to learn and repeat behaviorsThe difference between empty praise and meaningful, growth-producing feedbackHow specific positive feedback builds psychological safety and motivationWhy this skill is essential for leaders, partners, parents, and collaborators10 Simple prompts to help you look for and give feedback that actually lands and sticksReal-life applications in parenting, partnership, and team cultureWe also talk about how specific positive feedback helps counter self-doubt—both in ourselves and others. When people know exactly what they did well and why it mattered, they don’t have to guess. That clarity creates momentum. And here’s the quiet power of this practice: when you learn to give specific positive feedback outwardly, you also start doing it internally. You become better at recognizing your own progress, effort, and growth—rather than only tracking what still needs fixing. Whether it’s a colleague, a partner, a child—or yourself—this small shift can radically improve connection, confidence, and results. Mentioned in this episode: Look How Far You’ve Come: EP Leadership and communication tools from The Bloom RoomHow to connect with Marie: On the Web | The Local Bloom Instagram: @the.bloom.coach All Things Marie on LinkTree JOIN THE BLOOM ROOM! We'll take all these ideas and apply them to our lives. Follow me on Instagram at @the.bloom.coach to learn more and snag a spot in my group coaching program!

    19 min
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About

We all think and talk about what we’ll do someday, but what if that someday could start right now? If there’s a change you want to make in yourself, in your life, or an idea that you have that you want to make real … this podcast is for you. After 20 years leading and coaching innovators, Certified Coach Marie McDonald is breaking down how great change-makers think so you can do what they do and take your ideas out of your head and into the world where they belong. We’ll teach you how to stop trying to get other people to like you and your ideas, and how to be your own biggest fan instead. You’ll learn how to ditch the drama and have fun with failure, to stop taking things personally, and to get out of anxiety and into decisive action when you don’t even know how or what you’re doing yet. Marie has used this work to go from bar tender to Vice President, to create the family of her dreams, and to start a multiple six-figure business from scratch within eight months. Whether you want to change a relationship, a habit, write a book or start a movement, it starts here on The Bloom Your Mind Podcast. Find me on Instagram @the.bloom.coach to get a daily mind-bloom, and join my weekly list. See you inside!

Information

  • Creator
    Marie McDonald
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    165
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Bloom Your Mind
  • Show Website
    Bloom Your Mind